2/25/09

Born in Koersel (Belgium), Thierry Smits studied ballet and modern dance in Brussels and Paris. After a short career as a dancer, he soon began choreographing. He founded “Thor” company in 1990 and explores, often in an eclectic manner, the bonds between the mystic and erotic, the ambiguity between the sacred and corporeal, and questions the metaphysical problems of individual’s state of mind and emotion. With his first choreography, La Grâce du tombeur, presented in 1990 at the Halles de Schaerbeek in Brussels, he quickly gained international acclaim in the world of contemporary dance. Since then, he has been a tireless choreographer for his own company and others, and produced more than twenty dance productions, among these: Eros délétère (1991), Cyberchrist (1995), Soirée dansante (1995), Corps(e) (1998), Red Rubber Balls (1999), L’Ame au diable (1994/2002), Dionysos’ Last Day/Stigma (2003), Reliefs d’un banquet (2004), D’Orient (2005), and V.-Nightmares (2007). Gathering excellent performing artists from around the world, the company has established its reputation touring extensively throughout Belgium and abroad, notably in Europe, USA, Middle East and Northern Africa.

Thierry Smits by Max Vadukul.

“In coherence with my oniric world, I choreographed in a particular way for the magician, who is the key character of the short film “The Man with the Suitcase”. I chose to create some fragmented pieces that could be manipulated to suit the director’s ideas and the COMING SOON clothing.

For instance, in the scene which takes place in the Antwerp station stairs, the choreographic material was not initially meant for the station but for a house; because I created fragmented material, it could easily adapt to a different atmosphere, just as the dancer’s bodies and movements adapt to the COMING SOON clothes.”

2/24/09

2/22/09

This is my first blogging attempt on the 'Coming Soon Backstage' site, just to kick off let me say that the project since Coralie and I started to plan the films has just been getting better and better, and the entire team is loving it .

We started in London, then to Italy, and now Belgium. I like to keep traveling and moving, I'm posting a couple of images from the recent shoot in Antwerp; the craziest part was filming inside a house that Mr Mago lives in, I swear to you that I was getting very nervous in the crammped space and all the action busting out of the suitcase was causing a chaos that the team were not quite ready for, but als the superb crew finally got it all going and I was a happy man at the end of the day.

2/18/09

The images of Max Vadukul, a self-taught British photographer, are recognized for their signature creativity and originality. His work regularly appears in magazines such as Italian Vogue, L’Uomo Vogue, Men’s Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, and Interview. Discovered by Yohji Yamamoto in 1984, while living in Paris, Max quickly gained praise as a brilliant image-maker. Upon moving to New York City, Max began collaborating with The New Yorker, this was only the second contract given to a photographer, second to Richard Avedon, in the magazine’s 100 year history. Max is, as well, currently working for Rolling Stone and on personal projects either through photography or film.

“"The Man with the Suitcase” is a story about a traveler who is eccentric and a bit of a magician. It is about the times when I was a kid in Africa and seeing passengers getting on and off steam trains with suitcases ...we all want to know what is in a suitcase, and when more than one person is looking at the suitcase, your curiosity is aroused; so then the “Mago”, as I call the main character, lives in an eccentric house in Antwerp and has a weird collection of puppets, but the best are his human puppets, so you have to wait and see the film to watch the art unfold ...

This is my 3rd film for COMING SOON and the most complex one yet, working with the talented Rain Li as Director of Photography added softness and dream to my reality. ‘’

We met Koos Fäber in a Parisian café close to Beaubourg two hours before the Yohji Yamamoto Homme show, which he has been walking in for years. He was very relaxed, wearing a classic shirt with dicreet but sophisticated details.

When we asked him about this shirt, it led us to talk about his passion: this shirt happened to be a product from his own shop in Amsterdam, Nuzyn.

Indeed, Koos is not purely satisfied with being just a model. He has been modeling for eight years now, and has made use of this experience to decide what he wanted to do, and to help him achieving his ultimate project.

Born in the Netherlands, Koos Fäber wanted to build something in his beloved country. In June 2008, he and his partner Amanda Pinatih, a Dutch art history student, who is also his girlfriend, opened their first pop-up store in Rotterdam. The store closed in November, allowing his new store to open in Amsterdam.

His concept is clever: regular openings of pop-up stores in different places in the Netherlands to allow a wordly view and to reach varying people in different locations. Of course, this pop-up concept generates a lot of press. Moreover, it allows him to scout out the ideal place for his store.

But this early success does not give Koos unbounded dreams, "I want to have it small." He remains attached to making a very personal selection of small fashion brands with good quality and design, which are not widely retailed elsewhere. He wants Nuzyn to remain synonymous with exclusivity. Go to Nuzyn and you can buy Jeroen Van Tuyl shirts, Sanne Karssenberg capes, Slow and steady wins the race accessories etc.

And COMING SOON? "I would love to sell COMING SOON. In this new collection, I love the boots and sneakers, the soft jackets, the "very Yohji" low-crotch and oversize pants. "This is a fresh, young label, which has a soft and nice feeling of Yohji. The textures are light and soft, and you can really connect with the clothes."

Koos buys pieces from different seasons, a special aspect of the store, which is interesting for the customer because they will not be able to find these exclusive pieces at any other store at the same time. The stock changes every five weeks at the maximum. This really transform the shopping experience. And as a big fan of artists and photographers such as Hans Bremer, Matthew Barney, Marc Queen, and Damien Hirst, he would love Nuzyn to blend design, art, fashion, and jewelry, but he definitely refuses the common "urban branding" idea.

By the way, what does Nuzyn mean? Living in the Now: "You are walking down the street, you see something you like, you buy it, you create your own imagination from the design you buy." Simple, but definitely original.

Philosophy

COMING SOON is a brand created for a generation of women and men who wear what they like without stating who designed it. Wearing Coming Soon is an act to express who you are through the essence of clothing, fabric, and cut for everyday comfort and style.